Griff

You do know the "retain and transfer" system ended thirty years ago, don't you?

Ah - it's just a personal grudge, then.

Two years. Impressive.

Is this a new plan to grow the game by reducing the number of players in a team to twelve and playing dressed as monks?

Well, there's a question. That sounds very much like a "the-referee-gave-them-penalties-that-weren't-penalties-and-never-gave-us-anything" argument. And maybe you should reconsider "never". Forty years is a very long time.

No trains but there were a few trams going past. Technically, they are railways rather than trams at that point.

Scoreboard next to home dugout. Clock over tunnel. I assume you'd overindulged in the excellent alcoholic beverages on offer.

Apologies for never having been able to come up to your high standards over the last forty years.

Yes it has a scoreboard. And a clock. I was sat opposite one and next to the other. The lights, though, are poor. Not what we were promised. By a long chalk.

Fair assessment.

Or, worse, buying a team of mercenaries and not scraping into SL.

I definitely would. But you'll never know whether that's true, will you? The chances of me having zillions available are vanishingly small. There's actually much more sense in investing in a club's infrastructure that signing up players. Provided you're in for the long haul.

I have. I've seen Whitehaven as well.

Franchising came later than the nineties.

You may be unaware that there are other sources than Wikipedia.